Week 11, November 1, 2010: German Chocolate Cake

So, joyofbaking.com hasn't only given us some tasty recipes, such as last week's, but also has really cute stories or good historical info on the cakes.

I found out that this week's cake, German Chocolate Cake isn't actually German in the sense of nationality. The name came from an employee of Baker's Chocolate, who invented their blend of German chocolate.  The recipe I used, from joyofbaking.com, naturally, used semi-sweet chocolate and oh my goodness, if there is one recipe that you try, it's this one.

Cake for work (watching Emma as I do the dishes). Don't adjust your monitors- this cake is lighter in color than the top one.

I've come to realize that as much as I love the taste of nearly everything delicious in this world, I really am partial to textures: the smooth, silkiness of cheesecake, the heavy, denseness of pound cake, the light sponginess of angel food cake and the creaminess that simply fills your mouth when you eat chocolate.  This cake was good for that, but this frosting had the sticky, crunchy, coconutty thing going on and I'll admit to nearly not having enough frosting for the cakes.

Insert menacing laugh

As cakes go, this had more steps than I like.  There was chocolate to chop and melt.

Coffee to brew and mix with buttermilk.

which chocolate to use? how 'bout one in each cake?

Dry ingredients to sift.

Butter and sugar to cream-- Is there anything in the world lovelier than sugar folding into butter?

Eggs and vanilla to beat in.

And then, there was mixing it all together.

I had to borrow an extra pan from my mom- and learned that I've been using 10" pans all along, wow.

The cake was more pungent than any I've made before, but the frosting was a little tricky.  The first batch (the home batch) came out perfectly.  I heated the eggs, sugar and evaporated milk over a slow flame and stirred constantly.  It took a good eight minutes to thicken, I never actually saw it boil, but I felt it get dense.  Then added in the crushed pecans and sweetened coconut flakes.  Again, the texture of this frosting is pretty much better than having a cleaning man in a cabana boy outfit take care of the triple track windows--that good.

that shadow is me whisking!

The second batch I cooked at a higher temp and it boiled, but I wound up with yolk stuck to the side of the pan.

who needs a food processor when beating the daylights out of nuts is so fun?

The best part: the assembly:

It had the best reviews from the faculty of any cake.  The PA who spends Mondays with my buddy the nurse called me during my last class of the day to tell me that it was the best cake she'd ever eaten and that she hopes my birthday never comes.  WOO!  This made my day as did a lovely gift from one of the teacher's aides, pustie pans and her family's recipe-- she wanted me to know that she appreciated the Monday "pick me up" that my cakes have become.  I felt the love, and look forward to 21 more weeks of deliciousness.

And on a fun note for next week-- all roads lead to San Francisco right now.  Our Tres Leches recipe comes from a San Francisco baker/ foodie, who happened to do a review on Gary Danko, which I learned about on an episode of the Cheap Seats with Chris Rose when he was interviewing the Giants' closer Brian Wilson.  The pitcher also happens to be a huge fan of Chuck Norris jokes-- for those of you who didn't know, my paper on Chuck Norris jokes and intercultural pragmatics in humor is the basis for my dissertation.  Small world.  I may celebrate Halloween belatedly and don a black beard for next week's post.

A slice of cake after Nan's cooking, reminding me of the reason I live so close to the fam.

I cooked, who's cleaning?

besos!